PROLOGUE
“How many people get to be awake and aware for the emergence of the person they were always meant to be? How many people get to have two lifetimes in one?”
Lindsay C. Gibson,Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents
“You can lead a horse to water, but they’re very hard to drown.”
Sam Simmons,Problems
Toby Tennant jolted awake and found himself lying face-down on the floor.
“Sorry, dude,” a woman whispered, all husky in his ear. “It’s closing time. And just like in the song, you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here. And while that was mostly a metaphor for fatherhood, this is very much about you getting the fuck out of here because you’re drooling on the floor.”
“Hmmghrffffff,” Toby moaned into the black and white tiling. The pattern was familiar but not immediately identifiable,.aAt least not while his head was a pounding vortex of hell. He closed his eyes, returning to blessed unconsciousness. A second later, he was dragged back into the over-bright, overheated floor world by a shake on the shoulder.
“Seriously, Tobes-me-mobes,” the voice purred. “Get up, you fuckin’ alcoholic. We’re gonna have clients here in a couple of hours.”
“Mnnngghhh…?”
Clients. Where was he that had clients? Had he finally gone to a brothel to get rid of his stupid, flapping-dead-albatross-around-his-neck virginity? Washea client at a brothel?
The hand on his shoulder gripped harder. Toby finally peeled his gummy eyelids apart to see… the most beautiful woman in the world. Blue eyes. Blue hair. A perfect Playboy model rack in a tight black dress.
“Hola,” the woman said. “You’re having a rough one, huh,Toberson?”
Tabitha DaSilva. The living fairy. The apple of his eye—and that ofevery straight man who came across her. All the DaSilva sisters looked like they’d tumbled out of daffodils, but Tabby was by far the prettiest, most magnetic one. The minute he saw her, he was done. Blindsided. She was just so fucking electric. She was a 5G tower connecting and brightening everything faster and better.
He should have known it was her. Who else would find him on the floor when he looked like ten miles of back road?
He closed his eyes again. “This isn’t a brothel, is it?”
Tabby laughed. She had the best laugh. He’d watched people turn themselves inside out to get her to do it. Had done it himself a million times. God, he loved her. God, she wasnevergoing to sleep with him.
“Not a brothel, my guy. This is 408 Sydney Road. Also known as Silver Daughters Ink Tattoo Studio. Also known as my home. You arrived here at 8 p.m. last night for a party, and it is rapidly approaching 8 a.m. the next day.”
“Mmm,” Toby said, tasting floor. He remembered now. It had been Sam and Nicole DaSilva’s birthday party. The twins had set up a bar in their tattoo studio, and he and their boyfriends, Noah and Scott—and about a hundred other people—had stood around talking shit and drinking can after can of IPA.
“I should head home,” he’d told Scott. “You’re still my boss.”
“Not tonight, Toby,” Scott had said in his cut-glass English accent. “We could use another man on deck. Whatever happens, stay.”
“Yeah,” Noah agreed, clapping a vast, tattooed hand on his shoulder. “Stick around.”
Noah was an ex-biker and not someone you wanted to argue with, but Toby didn’t need much convincing. After all, Tabby was there. So, he’d stuck around. And he and the DaSilva boyfriends kept talking shit and taking shots and eventually racing cans until Toby was drunker than he’d been in ages, then years, then his whole life. He couldn’t remember how he’d gotten to the studio floor but couldn’t imagine it was with dignity.
“Scott,” he mumbled. “I’m gonna get fired.”
“No way, dude. Scott yakked all over the doorstep, totally fucked up our ‘G’day cunt’ welcome mat. Sam was beside herself with rage.”
“Shit… Is he around?”
“You mean, on the floor? No, Tobes. That’s just you, mate.”
“Fair.” He gestured to his back pocket. “Can you please use my phone to get me a ride?”
“Sure. As long as you don’t mind me inadvertently touching your ass?”
My kingdom for you to touch my ass, Toby thought, and when Tabby laughed, he realised he’d said it out loud.
